The Employment Relations Amendment Act 2008 amended the Employment Relations Act 2000 to enable small and medium-sized employers to hire staff for trial periods of up to 90 days. We inquired about the impact of the recently passed legislation on the department’s workload. The department reprioritised its work programme to accommodate the additional work. Its focus has been on providing information to employers on the Act, and letting small employers know what they have to do to implement the new provisions. Only small numbers of inquiries have been received to date. The department has updated its online employment contract to provide the option of a standard clause. The department has no way of monitoring those who lose their jobs within 90 days, other than through the complaints procedure, nor has it the ability to report positive or negative impacts on the labour market. Outside of this administrative data, it will have access to data on the numbers of people returning to benefits administered by the Ministry of Social Development within a 90-day period.(Emphasis added)

So, basically it has no way of telling whether the law is being abused or not. Some “monitoring”. The warning was just spin, lies-to-children to get us to shut up and go away.

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14 comments on ““Monitoring””

What else can your expect when business gets this strategy under way months before the election:

Our in-depth understanding of the processes of government
and network of contacts across the political spectrum allow us to provide top-level strategic guidance on the machinations of government, the personalities and the politics behind the politics relevant to achieving your corporate objectives.

There are few communications consultancies that truly understand the way party platforms are influenced and policies, law-making and political and legislative decision-making processes are initiated, implemented and often changed.

“The Standard” (also known as notices and features) is there to post content that is not written here. Like Drinking Liberally notices or content from other blogs or articles that could do with a wider audience.

Generally it only has brief or no contributions from writers here, and isn’t original content.

Pat – I almost posted the same comment. My understanding is that The Standard was to be used for public service announcements, not spin. LP might have to update the About page now 🙂

This is trying to be constructive and not whinging. I think this is a genuine oversight and it would be much better to keep “The Standard” for generic posts otherwise it supports the view that the Standard has a standard view on issues.

C’mon people! This is business-toady National we’re talking about. “Accountability” is what they do to political opponents and people they don’t give a rat’s about, not their mates! That’s why there is no effective accountability or redress in this 90-day sacking law.

God you can be smarmy sometimes, Felix. How about your ridiculous “lies” (and those of I/S in the story) repeatedly calling it a “fire at will” bill?

It’s a BRAND NEW law. Most people would realize that “monitoring” would involve analyzing the complaints coming in and seeing if they are acceptable or not in context. You can’t do that until you’ve had the law in place for a while and seen what level of complaints come in. It’s not rocket science. It’s too soon to start shrilling yelling “Lies Lies!”

But go ahead and have a cheap crack about whether or not I can read. What a Tool.

The problem, which if you’d read the post you’d have seen, is that Kate Wilkinson said that “fire at will” act would be monitored for abuse by employers.

What I/S pointed out was that there was no mechanism to actually monitor people being fired using the provisions of the act. The only way to monitor would be to look at complaints from people who probably don’t know how to complain. Hell I have no idea who I’d complain to myself if I hadn’t read I/S’es post.

The obvious solution would have been requiring employers to report sacking people using the act’s provisions (and penalties for not reporting it). Then the department could have looked for employers abusing the procedure by repeatably firing people. However that would have had to have been embedded into the legislation. It probably would have been put in place if the bill had been put through the select committee.

Without that, you can virtually guarantee that some obnoxious employers will abuse it – there is really nothing to stop them. Hell there aren’t any penalties as far as I can see even if they’re caught.

It is a Fire At Will because there are no protections or monitoring. Kate Wilkinson must have been aware of that when she made her threat on “monitoring”. So this is pure bullshit spin – she was lying to the public.

I read the post, but perhaps you and Felix are in a better position than I am to know that as well…

The problem with your approach is that it creates an entire layer of compliance and red tape right off the bat that may not be needed. All that regulatory oversight costs money which could be spent on schools, hospitals and other more important things.

Again, if an employee feels aggrieved they can complain. If there are no complaints coming in, then why impose the additional layer of governmental monitoring just because you have an anti-employer bias and believe it will automatically be abused. Do employers have to notify some outside authority every time they hire, warn or fire an employee now? Does the PG process “work” anyway?

Why not get male employers to self-notify each time they are left in the office with the pretty receptionist. Then we can cross-reference against the number of pretty receptionists who quit their jobs or have out-of-wedlock babies and from that data we’ll know whether how the law against sexually harassing your staff is working out.

Alternatively, we can see what level of complaints come in over time and decide whether or not some additional oversight is needed.

How about this then. The employers using the provisions of the act at the contract phase are required to give information on the provisions of the bill to, and get a signed receipt from the employee. This should be provided by the department, and including how to complain. If the employer is shown not to provide this information, it is a criminal offense under the act, carrying a mandatory prison sentence if proved.

This is just getting the employers to hold stocks of the information, and to store the receipt. Very minimal.

It also means that the employee has an ability to help with the ‘monitoring of abuses’.

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Police Minister Stuart Nash has confirmed details of a new bill that will create a registry of guns, and new offences and penalties for illegal manufacture, trafficking or changing markings of firearms. ...

Charli XCX has just released her latest album, Charli. The futuristic musician is always looking ahead, and so are her fans. We’ve paired each star sign with their perfect Charli XCX song.Charli XCX burst onto the scene in 2012, when she co-wrote and performed electro-pop headbanger ‘I Love It’ with ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benedict Sheehy, Associate professor, University of Canberra British health-care conglomerate Bupa runs more nursing homes in Australia than anyone else. We now know its record in meeting basic standards of care is also worse than any other provider. This is more than ...

Fable is best remembered for the disastrous, over-the-top promises made by its designer Peter Molyneux. But maybe, Adam Goodall argues, we’re remembering it all wrong.“There is something I have to say. And I have to say it because I love making games.” So opens an October 2004 post on the ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University Argument is everywhere. From the kitchen table to the boardroom to the highest echelons of power, we all use argument to persuade, investigate new ...

The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Native Son: The Writer’s Memoir by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $40)Stand by for a review from ...

Tara Ward delved into Māori TV’s impressive OnDemand catalogue and found some of the best TV taonga for your viewing pleasure. From lifestyle shows to documentaries, from current affairs to reality TV, Māori TV has an abundance of quality telly that celebrates and acknowledges the people, places and cultures of ...

A new poem by London-based poet Morgan Bach.Turning, hurtlingI march diligently to sunshine in the parkeverything bathed and turning golden.A woman breathes fire by the folly framing herlike a personal door to hell. Conkers are pitched from high boughsto break and give up fruit, a spire emergent from the baring ...

Simon Day learns about the history and power of Chinese five-spice. Both the origins of Chinese five-spice and the flavour itself are a little mysterious. My internet investigations revealed the powder’s name could be in reference to the use of five spices (although this often grows to six or seven), or ...

Revelations around alleged sexual assault by a Labour staffer and the party inquiry into his behaviour have dominated the week. Alex Casey and Mihi Forbes join Gone By Lunchtime to survey the damage.Alex Casey, author of the Spinoff feature published on Monday, “A Labour volunteer alleged a violent sexual assault ...

In the fourth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ana Arriola, general manager and partner at Microsoft AI and Research, about ethics and transparency in tech.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this ...

Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Labour Party sexual assault allegations Andrea Vance (Stuff): How to make the Labour abuse scandal ...

Toi Kai Rākau Iti, who is running in the Eastern Bay of Plenty Kohi Māori constituency, encounters an unlikely channel of youth engagement.In te ao Māori you’re always looking for tohu, or symbols. They guide you through uncertain territory and help you make sense of the world. The arrival of ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomer Ventura, Senior Lecturer, School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast The creation of all-male or all-female groups of animals, known as monosex populations, has become a potentially useful approach in aquaculture and livestock rearing. Researchers and those in ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University Predictably, both major political parties are resisting calls this week for a parliamentary conscience vote to declare a climate emergency in Australia. The resistance is unsurprising because both the Coalition and Labor ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Shi, Lecturer, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University If the Religious Discrimination Bill passes into law, women may find it harder to get an abortion. That’s because health practitioners with an objection to performing the procedure on religious grounds ...